pieces of time
by Silverlight
Summary: It's the little things you remember. Primarily YohAnna, with a smattering of Hao.
1. to fall in love

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**Shaman King: it hurts to love you so…  
2003-09-15  
357 words  
Yoh/Anna**

**-----**

It is neither lie nor exaggeration to say that I love Yoh so much that it hurts.

I can hear the snide comments, how I hurt him more than he could possibly hurt me, but it's the truth.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who heard voices and felt everyone's hatred. She became brittle until she met a boy that showed her how to smile, how to care, how to be kind, and mostly, how to love. She felt her world right itself again, and from then on, she heard only the beating of her heart and his.

To this day, I didn't think Yoh understands, or even knows how much of myself I've tied up with him. Yes, I want an easy life and yes, I want to be the First Lady of the Shaman world, but most of all, I wanted to be Asakura Yoh's wife.

Every time I watch Yoh fight, every time I witness another one of his thoughtless acts of bravery, I feel a knife slice through my soul. He's careless, my Yoh. He doesn't stop to think of himself or anyone else; he only sees the best traits in the other person, the other spirit and tries his best to bring them out. He doesn't care that he may get hurt, or worse, die, nor does he realize the effect that it has on the people around him, especially me.

I don't think anyone realizes how much I depend on Yoh, how much of my own strength is tied up with his. That's why I train him, that's why I push him beyond endurance, because the stronger he grows, the stronger I am as well.

That's why I say it hurts to love him.

And when he glances at me with those soft eyes of his, and he smiles that gentle smile, I feel the same dull ache I've known almost all my life and I almost try to turn away. Almost.

But sometimes, just sometimes, I close my eyes and hold that smile close to my heart and believe that in the end, everything will work out.


	2. morning routine

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**Shaman King: morning routine  
2003-09-15  
100 words  
Yoh/Anna drabble for Pei Yi**

**-----**

He wakes her with a chaste kiss on the cheek. When she reaches the kitchen, her coffee is prepared, and he is cooking breakfast.

By the time she has finished eating, he's ready. She dislikes waiting, but he never leaves without her because she also dislikes being left behind.

They walk to school side-by-side. When she's cold, he slips off his jacket in the frigid air and covers her warmly. She chastises him in a hard voice as she drapes it back on his lanky frame. He grins and they continue walking.

They are used to this, being in love.


	3. yoh, anna and the flu

**Shaman King: Yoh, Anna and the flu **

**2003-11-15**

**136 words**

During dinner, Anna sneezes and Yoh looks at her. Her voice is suspiciously nasal and her cheeks are almost as red as her nose.

"Anna-san, are you feeling okay?" queries Manta.

"I'm fine." Her dismissal is sharp.

Later that night, Yoh knocks on her door.

"I brought you some tea," says Yoh when she slides it open. On the tray there is a dose cough medicine and a mug of tea. She narrows her eyes.

"I'm not sick."

"Of course not." His smile makes her heart ache more fiercely than her head. "But just in case, I'll leave this here. It's cold tonight."

When he returns the next morning, the medicine is gone and the mug is empty. Anna sleeps peacefully; her cheeks are cool to his touch.

He slides the door shut quietly behind him.


	4. hao, opacho and shakespeare

**Hao, Opacho and Shakespeare**

**2003-11-14**

**120 words**

"Hao-sama, what are you reading?"

"Taming of the Shrew," he replies absently, flipping a page. Opacho tilts his head, quizzical.

"What's that?"

"It's a play. Petrucchio tries to tame his wife, Katherine." He frowns. "He starves her, doesn't allow her to sleep, and generally, acts like a fool. 'And thus, I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour,'" he orates. Hao enjoys his dramatics when he can get away with them.

"How does the story end, Hao-sama?"

"She kisses him after promising eternal wifely devotion. I should take notes, though I shall have more finesse than Petrucchio." A wry chuckle escapes his lips. "I shall find and pluck your sting, my waspish Anna."

Opacho decides not to ask any more questions.


	5. mikihisa, keiko and a late night

**Mikihisa/Keiko: tonight**

**2004-01-28**

**100 words**

She watches her son sleep with a weary smile on her face. He's precocious, her Yoh. His father, she thinks, would approve.

Her husband is there when she returns. "He's sleeping," she murmurs. "Have you eaten yet?"

He pauses. "No." She notices the headphones for the first time. "I have a gift."

"I'll make sure he receives it in the morning." He nods his thanks, and is about to slip away, but her fingers catch onto his sleeve. "I'll make you a late dinner."

She can feel the smile behind the mask. Tonight, she thinks, she'll make him his favourites.


	6. yoh, anna, hao and a sleepover

**Shaman King: Yoh, Anna, Hao and a sleepover gone wrong**

**100 words**

When Hao sleeps over, he moves his futon next to Anna's. Instead of arguing, Anna switches beds with Yoh, while Hao watches with a pout. Hao doesn't mind, since Yoh is far more susceptible to his charms, but Hao always indulges in theatrics.

When all that's left is the sound of heavy breathing, Hao climbs out of bed to examine his future wife. He leans closer, but stops when she murmurs, "Don't even think about it, Hao," and shifts her left hand.

When he returns to his futon, Yoh is a few inches further from him and closer to Anna.


	7. yoh, anna and a bracelet

**Yoh, Anna and a Cereal Box**

**2003-11-06**

**143 words**

"What is this?" Her tone frosts him with its displeasure.

He coughs. "A bracelet?"

"It looks tacky." She takes it from him and peers at it. The light sparkles off the cheap plastic. "Where did you get it?"

He shifts away from her and twists his lips into the semblance of a nervous smile. "The cereal box. I thought you might like it."

Her eyes turn black. He knows fear again. "IS THAT ALL I'M WORTH TO YOU?"

"No, no, of course not, Anna! It's just that it looked so pretty that when I looked at it, I thought of you!"

"…All right, you can put it on me," she says brusquely, thrusting her wrist and jewellery at him.

When he's done so, he grins. It's perilous. "See? It looks cute on you."

She doesn't remove it for the rest of the day.

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Note: these are mostly drabbles, which are usually shorts that are usually around 100 words or so. I've got an artistic license too, you know.


	8. kiss

**-----  
Yoh, Anna and Hana  
2005-01-02  
Kiss  
100 words  
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The first time Hana met his parents, he hid behind Tamao's skirt.

"Come out Hana," commanded Anna.

"Don't frighten him," his father said. Hana peered from his hiding place. His father looked like he smiled a lot. "I'm Yoh. The scary woman over there is Anna, your mother."

"Yoh…" she even _sounded _scary.

"Now, now..." Effortlessly, Yoh picked up his son. "Give your mother a kiss."

Hana screwed his face up and pecked her on the cheek. When he pried his lids open, his mother wasn't scowling anymore. In fact, she looked kinda...nice.

"See?" murmured Yoh. "That wasn't so bad."


	9. hao, anna and the moon

For michi, who started this whole fiasco.

_He jests at scars that never felt a wound.  
_-- Romeo and Juliet (Act 2, Scene 2)

It's almost midnight and she can't sleep so she sits in a tree and watches the moon. She takes care not to lean against the trunk of the tree, wary of the fact that it could probably stain her clothing and give her an unbearable rash. She used to do this often as a little girl when she couldn't hear silence long enough to sleep, and though the time has past, she revives the habit tonight for her birthday.

She checks her watch. It's quarter past twelve, and she's also a year older than she was fifteen minutes ago. She never takes great notice in her birthday, but she enjoys it when other people do. Her lips curve into a faint smile at the thought of Yoh's present; he'd be sure to get her something useless but something pretty. She knows that she'll scold him for it, that she'll demand one of the many gifts from the list she's given him weeks before, but her fiancée will merely smile that dangerous smile and say that the gift reminded him of her. She's unreasonable like that, but only because he's unreasonable with her.

"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks!"

She narrows her eyes at the intruder. She had expected him. "What do you want Hao?" From her vantage point, he looks small, but perspective is a funny thing in the world of Shamans. He stands just far enough from the tree so that the moon drenches him. Not that this surprises her; Hao enjoys his dramatics far more than anyone else she knows, even Ryu.

"Why, to see you, Anna. It's your birthday after all." His tone is cheerful and in the moonlight, he looks bleached and pale. It's a disconcerting effect.

She's not surprised he knows. "You've seen me. Now leave."

He raises an eyebrow. "Without a kiss?" he pouts, though something tells her that he is not kidding. "Juliet promised her undying devotion to her Romeo." She recoils inwardly at the thought.

"Juliet killed herself." Her tone is frosted with elegiac hatred, but it melts off of him easily, as if his spirit took the brunt of her formidable blow.

"And the romantic Romeo took a vial of poison because he could not bear to live without his lover." Hao looks up at her, a wry smile playing at the edges of his lips. "I'd take poison if I thought you had died."

"Then do so."

Even as the last syllable leaves her lips, he's sitting beside her on the branch, dangerously close. She angles her body away from his as much as possible, and he pretends to ignore this. They both know that she's not suicidal but nor is she afraid and that makes her far more perilous than Juliet.

"It's a beautiful night," he says. Then adds coyly in her direction, "Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon." She doesn't reply but her form is almost as stiff as her silence. He laughs and for a brief, corrosive moment, she remembers that he is Yoh's brother. "If you were anyone else, I think I'd be insulted by your reticence."

"Then leave. I'm not keeping you here," she snaps, tilting her head towards his direction. "Leave before I push you off this tree."

"Oh?" He reaches over with his right hand and tilts her chin so she is forced to look at him. "It's not like you to give warning."

She raises her right arm to strike, but he catches her wrist in an easy grip. "The same thing won't work on me twice, Anna," he warns as he releases her chin to capture her left arm.

"Release me and leave." Her tone is sharp and she tries not to leave him room for argument.

"Very well." She's not fooled by his deferring tone as she can see the glint of mischief in his eyes and even as she realizes what is happening, it's too late. "But first…"

Her first kiss is something that she'll forever try to forget. It's a hard kiss and he gives her no room to struggle even as he pins her against the trunk of the tree so that she can feel her clothing catch against the grooves of the bark. "Happy birthday, Anna," he whispers when his lips leave hers, his breath hot on her flushed and sensitized skin.

She spits in his face. He laughs even as he wipes his countenance on his sleeve and she sees shades of red. When her vision clears, the only thing that is left is the moon, the tree and the angry marks on her arms and wrists that are beginning to disappear.

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. It's a long moment before she can climb down.

November 2003


	10. everything you ever wished for

Notes: Part of the 52flavours comm on livejournal. Yoh/Anna, sort of. Was originally part of a larger oneshot.

_04. everything you ever wished for_

"So..." Manta's voice trailed off as he watched Koutarou clean. "How long as he been doing this?"

Yoh let his legs swing from the edge of the porch, enjoying the brief respite. "About two weeks now I think."

"I see." Manta watched Koutarou clean. Koutarou somehow managed to get out the spots that the smaller boy had never been able to do more than pick at morosely. Perhaps it was because of the boy's bigger frame, but Manta had a suspicion that it had more to do with infatuated fervour.

"Excuse me, Manta-kun, Yoh-san, " Koutarou's voice was only a trifle cooler when he said Yoh's name, "I need to clean this part."

"Ahh, sorry. Are you sure you don't need any help, Koutarou-san?"

"I've told you not to call me by my first name!"

"Oh. Sorry." Even Manta was surprised by his friend's blasé reaction. "Are you sure that you wouldn't like help, Mihara-san?"

"Quite sure. Anna-sama told me to clean it, and I will."

Manta watched bemusedly as Yoh slid off the porch onto the ground, humming to himself. Koutarou finished polishing the boards in record time.

"Anna-sama, I'm finished!" he called. He looked almost smug. "Why don't I take you out to dinner? It's too late to start making it."

There was no reply.

"Anna-sama?"

"What do you want?"

Manta jumped. Anna had appeared without warning. "You missed a spot, Koutarou."

"I'll get onto it. But once I finish, would you like to come out with me for dinner?"

"No."

"How about tomorrow night?"

"No."

Manta was incredulous. He knew that Koutarou was not the brightest person (understatement), but even the dullest twit could see that Anna was not interested.

"The night after?"

"No." Her tone was sharp and forbade more conversation. "Yoh, Manta, what are you two doing?"

Yoh sat up, his orange headphones clacking noisily. "Relaxing?"

"Go buy groceries for breakfast tomorrow. Manta, you can buy some takeout for dinner tonight."

"I can do that, Anna-sama!" said Koutarou, jumping immediately to his feet. Anna glared at him for his interruption, but he ignored it. "I'll buy you breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of your life, if you want!" She smacked him across the face. He brought his hand up to cradle his cheek, stars shining in his eyes.

"Anna, why don't you take him up on his offer? I'm sure Koutarou-san will take you to a nice place," said Yoh. Manta stared at him, disbelieving his ears. This was too much, even for him to take. Koutarou seemed to be in perfect accord with him.

"Since you seem to be so interested, you can have dinner with Koutarou tonight."

"WHAT?" screamed Koutarou. "Anna-sama! You are the only one I ever want to have dinner with! I want to wine and dine you! And treat you properly! And feed you the most delicious things that money can buy! WHY DO I HAVE TO WASTE IT ON THIS...THIS IDIOT?"

"Just for that, I won't chaperone," said Anna, walking back into the house. "Oh, and don't come home too late Yoh. We have to be up at five tomorrow."

Yoh sighed. "Don't you think you're taking this a little too far?" he asked in a tone that Manta could only call "chiding."

"No," she replied, and shut the door.


	11. old men and their ghosts

_For the 31days comm. August 1: Disparagers of love, now hear my song_

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The girl tittered when the old innkeeper from Funbari shuffled his way past her register, his scarred geta loud on the linoleum and pants frayed and worn several inches above his ankles. He paused long enough to wink at her, not quite good enough to do so surreptiously, and shuffled his way out the door.

"You should have killed her," his wife said, a floating emblem with the sun shining through her hair and cheeks, the hard agate of her eyes and the unwrinkled skin of her hands.

"Maa," replied the old man, "if I did that everytime someone offended you, then there'd be no one left to fight in the next Shaman Fight."

"You didn't buy enough vegetables," she said. "And I didn't say that she offended me. I told you to kill her."

It was a spring day and he was very tired, so he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, searched for the closest bench and sat down. He placed his groceries very carefully on the ground, half-forgotten fears of his wife's tyranny at the smallest bruise on her favourite fruits coming back with a vengeance. Humming under his breath, he tilted his head towards the sky.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you alone for so long. You've gotten even slower."

"That's what happens when you grow old."

"That's why you should have died young, like I did."

He looked at her, ignoring her translucence and the way she glared at him and said, "Hana misses you. So do I," quietly and serenely in the way that the very old do.

And she was there, floating in front of him, her expression still severe. "Fool. You're supposed to."

He smiled and closed his eyes. "I know."

A breeze swept through his white hair, passed through his leathery cheeks and scraped against his tongue. When he opened his eyes, Anna was gone, and the sun was warm against his skin.

_end  
August 2006_


End file.
